Explaining bird names from Leviticus

Codex Sangallensis 283 (p. 483). 9th century; St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek. Latin, Old English and Old High German, Carolingian minuscule.

Die Transkription lautet:

Mer-
gulus, nigra auis mergit sub aqua pisces quærere Doh-
fugal uel alacra uel tuheri. Eos designat qui in baptismo
renati sunt sed infima desideria appetunt mundi.
Cignus, suuan. Onocrotalus, quæ so-
nitum facit in aqua; roredumble.
Herodio, falco. De illo sicut
de accipitre dicitur. Caradrion: quidam dicunt lericha.
Upupa siue opopa, id est uuittihoffa.

Mergulus [an acquatic bird]: a black bird; it dives under water to seek fish;
a dipping fowl or eel-crow or diver. It signifies those who have been reborn through baptism but reach after the basest desires of this world.
Cignus [Greek κύκνος]: swan. Onocrotalus [Greek ὀνοκρόταλος] ‘pelican’]:
a bird which makes a sound in the water, a bittern [cf. German Rohrdommel].
Herodio [Greek ἐρῳδιός ‘heron’]: a falcon. The same is said
of it as of the hawk. Caradrion [Greek χαραδριός, a yellowish bird]: some say that this is the lark. 
Upupa or opopa; that is, a hoopoe.

Though Carolingian minuscule is sometimes characterized as a clear script, the transcription of Cod. Sang. 283 is not necessarily simple. The selected passages preserve Old English and Old High German vernacular bird names whose forms reflect the transmission of material between the two languages, due to which, in some cases at least, the precise linguistic origin of a word remains obscure and difficult to trace (Seiler 2025: 54, 62-64). The superscripts <f> and <s>, used to mark such vernacular forms, provide an intriguing example of how scribal conventions can assist both paleographical and linguistic interpretations (Seiler 2024: 300). 

Sources: 

Eberl, Immo (2011): Walahfrid Strabo. In: Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz. https://hls-dhs-dss.ch/de/articles/013081/.

Seiler, Annina (2024): Birds, birds, birds: The dissemination and transformation of Old English Leviticus glosses on the Continent. In: Bulitta, Brigitte & Pelle, Stephen (eds.): Words – Texts – Scribal Hands, pp. 281-318. De Gruyter Akademie Forschung.

Seiler, Annina & Ott, Miriam (2025): Biblical Glosses and Glossaries. In: Seiler, Annina & Studer-Joho, Nicole (eds.): Old English in Switzerland: Manuscripts, Texts and Libraries, pp. 43-68. Schwabe Verlag Basel.

St. Gallen, Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 283: Commentary of Hrabanus Maurus on the Pentateuch (https://www.e-codices.ch/en/list/one/csg/0283).